This person is a verified professional.

The initial move of files from local workstation to server needs to complete during login before the desktop will appear. That can take a while.

We have had issues in the past with people syncing multiple gigabytes causing slow login or logoff. With SSD in servers and many laptops this has been reduced. I haven't heard about the problem for a long time.

I disable offline files for desktops. Only laptops have it enabled.

Be sure you redirect to a DFS Namespace. Otherwise your migration experience to a new file server in the future will be extremely painful.

This person is a verified professional.

The initial move of files from local workstation to server needs to complete during login before the desktop will appear. That can take a while.

We have had issues in the past with people syncing multiple gigabytes causing slow login or logoff. With SSD in servers and many laptops this has been reduced. I haven't heard about the problem for a long time.

I disable offline files for desktops. Only laptops have it enabled.

Be sure you redirect to a DFS Namespace. Otherwise your migration experience to a new file server in the future will be extremely painful.

Thanks Kevin, I understand that offline copies are user & computer specific. If so, once a computer is used by multiple users, it will hold offline copies of the redirected folders of each user. Also, a user accessing multiple computers in the Domain will generate offline copies on each computer being used. Correct?

If the above is true, it may make sense to make offline copies only on 1-to-1 users/computers..... or?

This person is a verified professional.

Offline files should only be used for personal files. Don't use them anywhere multiple people may edit a file. By default, only personal files will be cached, but a user can manually cache other files unless you disable that at the share level.

How many people share your laptops? Multiple users of a single laptop will increase the disk space needed for caching on that device.

This person is a verified professional.

Why enable offline folders for desktops? It puts a greater load on the file servers, and doesn't provide any benefit if the server is always available.

Yes you can switch. A bit painful, depending on how large your user folders are, speed of network, and capacity of file server.

Easiest thing to do is setup a new set of shares for redirected folders, setup DFS Namespace pointing to those shares, and then create a new GPO to redirect folders to the DFS Namespace. Apply to some test users and test. During login, files will get moved from old location to new location.